Blogs

Maintaining a website isn't all the fame and glory it's made out to be. 🤔 Updates, troubleshooting, and server migrations - not to mention work assignments, tutoring, and research - have kept me quite busy for the past while, so apologies for not writing here sooner.
In the holiday season blogs are pretty much the last thing on people's minds, but I wanted to post some brief updates. First of all, congratulations to Keigan for scoring in the 95.5th percentile on his STAT exam! I wish I could take the credit as your tutor, but in the end it was all you! Keigan is now looking at universities to study corporate law. Feel free to stop by his profile and congratulate him!
LiquidFractal also welcomes its third academic group to the fold in the new year: the Dialectical Realism Research Group, headed by Brendan Cartmel. I anticipate there will be more information on this research group coming up early next year.
I've also added several features to the site, which I'll talk about when I have the time. In the interim, I'll just wish everybody happy holidays and a wonderful new year from LiquidFractal.

As reposted from @Arran Gare:
Dear members of the complex processes research group,
The next meeting of the complex processes on the theme of history will feature:
SPEAKER: Dr Michael Dix
TITLE: Fake history of philosophy: a case study
TIME: 12.30pm, Wednesday, 19th September
VENUE: ATC205
Abstract:
The ontology of Heraclitus, the first western philosopher of process, has been much misinterpreted for two and a half millennia. A consideration of how such misunderstanding arose and persisted reveals a tradition of “Whiggish” history in philosophy—a history biased toward the worldview and culture of “the winners” as if assuming this to be history’s “goal”—in this case, a history that systematically obscures and misunderstands the philosophical tradition of process philosophy, dialectical metaphysics and dialectical reason. The case-study of my title is John Burnet’s Early Greek Philosophy (1930) in which Burnet’s commitment to an analytical substance-and-property ontology aligned with modern scientific materialism impairs his understanding of contrary traditions and blinds him even to the contrary evidence of Heraclitus’ own words. A corollary of the fake history of process philosophy is systemic failure to understand Heraclitean and later process-philosophy postulation of a dialectical metaphysics of emergence. By bringing these systemic misunderstandings to light, this case-study reveals the difficulties involved in communicating an emergentist philosophy of process to a culture based in fundamentally different metaphysical assumptions—whether they be those of Athenian Hellenism, Enlightenment humanism, or today’s scientific materialism.

Dear members of the complex processes research group,
The next meeting of the complex processes research group on the theme: HISTORY, will feature:
SPEAKER: Dr Steve Mackey
TOPIC: ‘Social Cycle Theory: The Age of Corporate and Demagogic Gods'
TIME: 12.30 Wednesday, 22nd August
VENUE: ATC205
ABSTRACT:
Social Cycle Theory is as old as Ancient Greek poet Hesiod’s Golden Age when there was peace, stability and prosperity. Food was abundant and nobody had to work. But then transgressive humans declined through Silver, Bronze and Iron Ages into constant misery and toil. Edward Gibbon’s 1782 The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire charts an actual momentous regression. Marx and Engels’ remarked that: “History repeats itself first as tragedy, second as farce.” Refugee from the Russian revolution Pitirim Sorokin wrote during his subsequent Harvard professorship that human kind will among other things: “… sink still deeper into the muck of sociocultural sewers.” Jared Diamond has discussed related problems in more polite language. German nationalist Ostwald Spengler (1880-1936) is another thinker important to social cycle theory. Though subsequently an anti-Nazi he met Hitler after his The Decline of the West was seized on as explaining why Germany lost the First World War. But perhaps the most important early modern authority in this genre is Giambattista Vico (1668-1744). Vico’s interpretation of the Egyptians’: The Age of the Gods, The Age of Hero[ine]*s and The Age of [Hu]Men is seen as foundational. Where are we presently located in Vico’s cycle? Are some people willing supplicants to Hero demagogues? Are we all forced worshippers of Deified corporations? Can anything be done to change this seemingly fateful trajectory?
*I have modified historic sexist language.

Hello,
LiquidFractal is pleased to welcome the Complex Processes Research Group, based in Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia!
The CPRG is a reading and research group centered around the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Peirce, but the intellectual history of process philosophy extends further back to Friedrich Schelling as perhaps the first process philosopher. Process philosophy essentially emphasises becoming and unfolding over rigid, static paradigms, and is sometimes marked by a desire to reconcile the various aspects of human experience (scientific, religious, political) into a coherent, holistic whole. As to what this "whole" ultimately looks like and how it functions, well, that will be the subject of many, many interesting discussions to come.
A warm welcome to the CPRG at LiquidFractal! For more information, please visit the CPRG Space.

Hello,
This is the first post on the Complex Processes Research blog. The goal of this blog is simply for myself (and others if they like) to engage with the ideas and arguments put forth at the CPRG weekly meetings.
Unfortunately I went to Arran Gare's inaugural talk but missed a couple of others, and my talk was last week. So we start this blog with this afternoon's talk:
SPEAKER: Peter Brace
TOPIC: Altered Carbon versus Altered States: Disruption in Defence of an Ecological Civilisation
TIME: 12.30pm, 9th May
VENUE: ATC205
ABSTRACT:
If we are going to be successful in, as our theme for the CPRG this semester demands, ‘Overcoming the Neoliberal Assault on the Environment,’ then we would do well to imagine the results of a total victory for the forces of neoliberalism. A consideration of the outcomes that are articulated in the dystopian narrative from the Netflix television series “Altered Carbon” may strengthen us to continue our resistance. And an understanding of the roles of altered states of consciousness in disrupting entrenched and dysfunctional ways of thinking may give us hope for a self-correction to humanity’s current disastrous course.
From their role in evolution to their contribution to the development of Western philosophy, we examine some of these altered states at various levels of abstraction through the lenses of neurophysiology, psychology and, of course, philosophy. The induction of these altered states in a therapeutic setting is already showing great promise for the treatment of certain intractable mental illnesses, but could a broader understanding of their effects help us to form another line of defence against neoliberalism’s assault? We call for greater recognition of their positive potential and encourage a cautious approach to further interdisciplinary study.

Hello all,
I've been invited to give a one-hour talk at the Complex Processes Research Group (CPRG) at Swinburne University in Melbourne. The present theme for talks is, broadly speaking, "neoliberalism and the environment." I've included the abstract from Dr. Arran Gare's inaugural talk to give a sense of what issues are being discussed.
My talk, which will involve Schelling's Naturphilosophie and its possible relations to a critique of neoliberalism, is slated for 2 May. I'll post more here when I have more information.

Hello,
I'm pleased to announce that LiquidFractal, with the permission of the MSCP, is hosting the online space for "Schelling and 'Philosophical Psychology'," a summer course lasting from Jan-Feb 2018 and run through the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.
You can get to it in the SPACES menu above, but only registered members can access its content. If you're interested in enrolling for this or any other course offered by the MSCP, please visit their website here: Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.
All courses are available for distance enrollment and are made available as downloadable recordings.

Hi everyone,
It's official - LiquidFractal's new...iteration? manifestation? representation? - will be going live January 1, 2018!
Of course, the site's public areas and forums chatter have been around for ages and will still be there. But in the new year I hope to have everything else in place: tutoring rates, information on contract editing/proofreading/technical writing work, as well as the storefront.
I will also be introducing a Referrals program. So if you're a client (tutor, editing or otherwise) refer someone else who becomes a client, you get reward points which can go towards free tutoring hours, resources, or maybe even some free stuff. Not a client? If you're a Member who refers someone who becomes a client, you will also earn Referral points for stuff in the future.
More soon! As always, I enthusiastically welcome any and all suggestions you may have.
And psst...tell your friends.

Hello again,
So all of you will have noticed the changes I've made to the site as I prepare to push it forward into "live"ness. The most obvious of these changes is the new default site theme, LF_Magnum,[1] which will quite possibly replace the existing themes.
LF_Magnum has a lot of eye-catching features and makes very good use of the real estate on a given page to provide easy access to social media buttons. Some of you have mentioned that you really like the idea of a sticky header (the top menu that stays at the top as you scroll down a page), so I kept that in mind when selecting a new default theme. Of course, there is also the marquee, which will contain breaking news about site developments and links to other information.
I hope you all like it as much as I do - tweaking this theme has been a very nice creative exercise for me.
As always, please post in the Suggestions forum or get in touch with me if you have comments, opinions, or suggestions of any kind.
Footnotes
^ If you're wondering about the name, "Magnum" is the original name given it by its developer. I've just kept it because I can't think of anything else right now!

Hello all,
Since this site will be "officially" going live in the next while, I wanted to draw your attention to some coding-related issues which affect how the two newer themes (Dashboard, Chameleon) display.
In short, you will see the odd part of a webpage which seems to have no background, where the text at times can be very difficult to read against the static background graphics. This apparently has to do with the way certain blocks of code were formatted in Invision's CSS, and I am waiting on this issue to be resolved (it affects many other people out there as well!).
So if you want to see everything without these formatting issues, I suggest you use the default LF_Blue theme - there's no background eyecandy, but everything will display fine. Of course, registered Members are still free to use the new themes...everything works fine - it's just the odd display block that's affected.
Invision promise to address it as soon as they can; you'll know as soon as I do!
Note: as I've said before, while they will display on mobile screens the newer themes are too involved to display correctly on mobile devices - they're more for the desktop/laptop/tablet experience. I recommend using the default LF_Blue theme, which is much easier on your mobile bandwidth anyway.

Hi everyone,
Introducing Sticky Notes - an eye-catching way of making Members aware of new developments on the site, whether it's scheduling notifications for Tutor Clients, downtime for the site, or contests for you to win stuff! I felt this might be a better alternative to the Announcements window at times, which should really stand out a bit more so that people notice it as soon as they splash down on the main page. Sticky Notes are much more noticeable!
Sticky Notes will appear pinned to a side or corner of your screen. Once you've read a Sticky Note, just click its X to remove it from your view.

yes, I'm going there this blog entry.
Short and sweet, but I'm gonna say it: I really really wish Air Canada would adopt the practice of putting all parents and small, squawking cabbagehead children at the very back of the plane. Preferably on the wings with seatbelts, but I'm pretty sure there are laws against that.
Why do I say this, I hear you ask? Well, first off, those of our species who have decided to rut and procreate have been privileged against the rest of us, who are (let's put it bluntly) discriminated against when we are forced to wait in crushing lineups while these people are given leave to board first at their leisure. The way I see it, if they are privileged over us by being allowed to board and stow all their stuff first, why not privilege us over them when the plane lands by allowing us non-breeders to disembark first?
The additional plus being that with all the shrieking children at the back of the plane, statistically speaking more of us will hear less of them throughout the plane as we watch the movies and catch the sleep we have undoubtedly paid for in purchasing a ticket.
And self-entitled parents aren't even only a problem on planes: while I was waiting for the Toronto-Heathrow flight I was sandwiched between two families with children: one mother who kept shouting at her young son in Arabic or some such language, while he just kept ignoring her, screaming, running all through the closed boarding lanes in front of the staff desks, saying "ok ok" whenever he would disobey her. Well hey, it's not "ok"! Especially when the staff come up to you and fucking tell you it's not "ok"!
And on the other side of me? an Indian couple and their two small children, including a son who was hanging off of and licking the fabric strap that is latched to poles to create boarding lanes. Licking it all across its length! And the parents just stood there doing nothing!
Of course, this is not to single out Arabs or Indians - unruly children and their meathead parents come in all shapes and colours. But whatever the shape and colour, I just wish they would stay the hell away from me...and if they must be beside me, can we at least muzzle them so they can't shriek?

Hi everyone,
It's been online for a little while now (as some of you have noticed), but I thought I'd introduce the new Member Map, accessible from the Resources tab in the main menu. Basically, it allows you to show people where you are and provides a geographic distribution of members. Let's make it as global as possible!
A couple of brief points:
Participation in the Map is entirely optional. Putting your location on the Map can help you connect with other people near you (or who are in places you might want to go someday), but you're under no obligation to do so.
Do not provide your full address unless you want it to be made public! You can either give Maps your current location or enter your detailed address information. Enter your home address if you want, but it will be visible to anyone (bot or human) who browses the site. So if you live in Melbourne, simply entering "Melbourne" or a related option from the dynamic menu is fine and will preserve your privacy.

Hi everyone,
I thought I'd head this issue off at the pass before anyone else noticed it.
The short version: Internet Explorer and Edge are not recommended for use with the new themes (Chameleon and Dashboard).
The slightly longer version: Chameleon and Dashboard use the latest CSS and browser technology to provide the best visual experience possible. In its time-honoured tradition of adhering to its own insular version of the Internet, Microsoft insists on doing things differently with their browsers, with the result that not all functions work with IE or Edge. In fact, while Edge is supported by the theme developer, IE is not officially supported for these reasons. If you do want to use the site with these browsers, I'd suggest switching to the default skin (4.2 Blue), which is much less resource-intensive. There are scrolling issues with the graphics-rich backgrounds with both Microsoft browsers (particularly IE, which will give you a bumpy ride with both themes but is a particular trainwreck with Dashboard).
In short, everything works fine with Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Vivaldi. Heck, even Avast! SafeZone browser plays nice with the code (if anyone even uses it ). Firefox is at the bottom of this list since you'll see some minor scrolling issues; all others mentioned perform flawlessly.

Hello,
At long last, the software upgrade has arrived! A couple of you may already have noticed some of the significant changes to the site, but let me shortlist some of the really cool changes:
Spaces - unlike Domains (which are more research intensive), Spaces are more open-ended and social subgroups on the site. As promised, we now have the official Zombie Apocalypse Space for all your post-respiratory needs . I've also created a VIP space, which is for the veterans and those who support the site in various ways. If there is a Space you might like to see (or create and manage) on the site, post in Suggestions or send me a PM.
New Forum Views - guests and those who aren't logged in will see the traditional forums listing, but all Members now get two different ways to organise Forum content - Grid view, which organises Forums as information cards, and (my favourite) Fluid view, which dynamically lists topics based on the Forums you choose from the menu to the right.
Reactions - you can now React to a post, which gives you more options than simply Like. If there are Reactions you want to see on the site or have icons to suggest, please let me know.
Attachment Drag-and-Drop - now, instead of uploading an attachment to a post and then adding it, you can drag and drop it from your desktop straight into your post.
Media Gallery improvements - it's now easier to enter information and apply it to all uploading images at once, and easier to add content in general.
The list goes on, and I'm sure you'll see other improvements and tweaks in the coming weeks.
As a result of the upgrade, certain themes have had to be put on hold (or, in the case of SkyBlue, retired for now - sorry @Tegan Holmes!). This is because of the fundamentally different template structure, and I don't have time right now to rework the old theme to suit the upgrade. However, you'll probably find the sexy new default theme and the updated Chameleon theme will do the trick.

Hi everyone,
I'd like to introduce a new theme, available from the Themes menu at the bottom of the site main page: LF_Dashboard!
It has a side menu - a bit different from what we've seen so far, but I hope you all like it! Please feel free to test drive it and let me know what you think in the Suggestions forum.

Hello,
Just taking this opportunity to introduce a new LiquidFractal site theme: LF_Chameleon! Please let me know what you think of it here, or in the Suggestions forum.
This theme does require a little more in terms of graphics hardware, given that it's quite image-rich and involved static backgrounds - you might notice a bit of lag if you're using a smaller laptop (like an HP Stream or other low-end portable machine), or a machine that doesn't have dedicated graphics memory. But for most desktop computers it should be just fine.
Some options are currently available only to Tutor Clients and VIP members: for example, there is a Background Picker that allows you to select your site background image from a series of 6 images. Click the paintbrush by your name at the top to select your background image.
I really hope you like Chameleon - it's high time we had a change from the default theme! If you're wondering where the previous SkyBlue default theme went, I had to disable it as it doesn't play nicely with the new collaboration software I'll be talking about soon.

Just a note to let all Tutor Clients know that they no longer have Forums where they previously were. Instead, all Tutor Clients have their assets and accounts moved to private Domains in the new Domains section of the website.
All of you should now have correct access; if you can't get into your areas, please PM me. Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I hope everyone is well. Just to let you know, there will be several exciting developments in the site software in the coming months. There will be a major software upgrade which will make the site experience a lot slicker, and which will add several new features to the main site to make gallery media easier to browse,
Also, an update specifically for Tutoring Clients: I'm installing comprehensive new collaborative software which will see your material shifted into private, customisable Spaces in which I can offer you more personalised assistance and feedback. As we speak, I am backing up our current site in preparation for installing this software, so you may not find some of your site resources where they should be. As a result, things on the site may change and you might encounter some errors while I complete the structural upgrade.
Please be patient and don't freak out: things will fall into place very soon, and I will be on hand to field any questions and concerns you might have (I'm hoping that since this is the slow season re: essay help that the disturbance won't be too significant, barring online customers). I'd also like to remind you to please back up your material before uploading to the site just in case.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know via PM. If you have any suggestions, post them in the Suggestions forum.

Hi everyone,
My apologies for the site's downtime - I was switching over the database language from mySQL to MariaDB, and a minor software upgrade caused a bit of a crash. Nothing too dire, as you can see.
In other news, I am going to add a significant new feature to the site in the next couple of days...hope you like it!

Hello,
My apologies to anyone who might be looking to register on the site, but email addresses with mail.com will not be allowed on the site, as their servers are set up to automatically reject SMTP emails, which is what this server uses. So Members or Tutor Clients with mail.com email addresses wouldn't be able to receive any notifications or updates via email.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's easy enough to get an email account with Outlook or Gmail.

Hi everybody,
I know that with the hot weather coming those of you in the Melbourne area will have nothing more important to do than converse on the site (!), but this is just to let you know that I'll be upgrading PHP on the site in the near future, so there may be some brief downtime and/or delayed page responses.